Thousands of students in the central region of Vietnam have dropped out of school in recent times, citing financial difficulties and poor learning conditions.
In Phu Yen province, 1,200 students gave up their studies by the end of the first semester of 2009-2010, an increase of 160 students in comparison with the same period of 2009, the online VietnamNet newspaper reported Mar 15.
The drop-out rate has also caused headaches for Binh Dinh provincial authorities. By the end of the first semester, 2,200 local students quit school. Meanwhile, in all of 2009 only 2,729 students dropped out.
Increasing dropout rate have been reported in other central provinces of Quang Ngai and Quang Tri.
Nguyen Van Ta, Deputy Director of Phu Yen Education and Training Department, also added that many students in his province drop out because their families cannot afford school expenses any more, especially those who endured the storm and floods in early November 2009.
Ho Hoang Thai, Secretary of Tra Xinh Commune Party Committee, also noted that many students previously quitted learning to follow adults to the mountains in search of gold.
Vo Thi Ai Nhi, a 9th grade student of the Nguyen Du Secondary School in Phu Yen School revealed sadly that she must quit even though she does not want to. The only house of her family was swept away in the flood.
Vietnam reported more than 147,000 student dropouts in the 2007-2008 school year, accounting for nearly 1% of the country’s total number of students.
